


Luminas

by middlemarch



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, F/M, Farmer's Market, Humor, Pumpkins, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 16:25:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12413733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: A crisp day in October, the sky that perfect blue, set like a stage for a scene she didn't, couldn't expect to happen...





	Luminas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BroadwayBaggins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayBaggins/gifts).



To be honest, she’d never expected to see him again. He’d clearly been up from the city, his barn jacket too obviously full-priced and brand new from the latest LL Bean catalog, too careful about where he walked, not careful enough about the piles of gourds, the piles of heritage corn cobs. He seemed genuinely curious about the market, taking his time at this booth and the next, picking up jars of honey, availing himself of the free samples at Belinda’s table and smiling widely at the taste of her fresh bread spread with apple butter, not in any hurry this time. There was no sign of his girlfriend, no quick scan of the crowd or glance at a phone for a text; he just strolled around as if he hadn’t anything better to do and even though Mary couldn’t believe it, she found she wanted to.

“You didn’t get enough pumpkins the last time?” she asked, not waiting for him to say something. Her friend Charlotte was a big fan of controlling the narrative and Mary reminded herself, **he’d** found his way to **her** booth. He wanted something and she wanted to know what it was.

“No, we’re set,” he answered. Just like that, he’d invoked his blonde girlfriend without more than the one word. The sun went behind a cloud and she shrugged at herself for the flirtatious tone she’d begun with, the daydreams she’d entertained over the past week which had made Sam point out she wasn’t sorting the Valencianos from the Luminas properly.

“I was hoping there might be some more of those doughnuts though, the pumpkin sugar ones? I couldn’t get them out of my mind, all week,” he added. He grinned at her as he said it and she noticed his flannel was faded under the new coat and the jeans he wore were frayed at the cuffs.

“We’ve got a few left. They weren’t as popular today,” she replied.

“That’s hard to believe, but I guess it’s good news for me. I would’ve hated to have gone home without one,” he said.

“Long trip for a pastry,” she said.

“Yeah—wait, how did you know?” he said, clearly surprised. Surprised but not offended.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, I can tell when someone’s from around here and when they’re just up for the day,” she said.

“What are you, a witch?” he asked, stepped closer to the booth, leaning against it. The crowd was thinning and Sam was taking a break, ostensibly seeing whether Aurelia would sell them some damson preserves to use in a new tart recipe. She wished him luck, more than she was likely to have.

“No, I’m a local. And your Metrocard is sticking out of your pocket,” she said, gesturing at his chest where the coat gaped, her hand coming just a little too close to touching him.

“How many doughnuts did you want then?” she asked, trying to sound business-like and friendly, not like she had been thinking about him on and off all week, wondering what his name was, what he did in the city, whether he had remembered her at all for anything other than being a woman surrounded by squash. “I have about a dozen left, they’re yours. I could even throw in an apple turnover. For a little variety. You made a long trip.”

“Just the one,” he said.

“Just one doughnut? You came back up here for that? You’re not even going to bring any home to your girlfriend?” she blurted. She felt her cheeks turn red as the apples in Gus’s orchard. He’d always said her face would give her away and she only hoped he was wrong this time.

“One’s enough. El doesn’t like sweets,” he said. It should have sounded awkward. It didn’t. “It’s one of those things we don’t agree on. One of a number of things,” he remarked. She didn’t know him well enough to figure out what that meant but she realized she wanted to. More’s the pity, her nana Bridget would have said, then winked.

“How about two? One for each of us? If you’re not sick of them,” he said. She should say no—he had a girlfriend and she had a business, a farm in the boonies, not even the hipster part of the Hudson River valley, and he had some job in the city and Sam was about to get back with a dozen jars of preserves. He waited, smiling, hopeful in a way she recognized. She should say no, she knew it.

“Yeah,” she said, and wondered what it meant. He laughed, and she knew.

“One thing though, you have to tell me your name. Otherwise, it’s getting too weird, y’know?” she said quickly. 

“Jed,” he replied. “And you’re Mary.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a short piece on Tumblr by Broadway Baggins-- she got a prompt for Phoster + farmer's market. I liked hers so much, I wrote a sequel. I hope it makes sense without hers-- I think you can infer the first chapter, so to speak (which was from Jed's POV), from Mary's in mine.
> 
> Luminas are a breed of pumpkin. And the word means "light." You do the math :)


End file.
